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Mad cows and …… no wait, perhaps it’s just me, the mad book blogger, who heads out when the sky is black and the thunder is rumbling.

10 things to do in a thunderstorm

Attend a book launch preferably before the storm really hits, then you have a new book to read.

Read the book you got at the book launch, who can sleep through all that thunder?

If the power fails, read by torchlight.

Be too scared to get out of bed until the last minute even though you really, really need to pee

Try to pee in the dark, as you are afraid to pull the light switch, hoping the lightening will show you the way, easier for women than men to pee in the dark.

Brave the madness to make sure all your book blogging social networking is “saved” in case the storm knocks out the power.

Consider using the hours you are awake during the storm to mentally draft up a blog post for the next day.

Contact all your friends via social media who might also be awake and have a chat about the storm.

Try putting in your ear phones and listening to music to drown out the noise.

Get a drink and a snack and watch the lightening show.

And now back to the book launch.

Last evening I went along to The WeySide pub in Guildford (yes the sky was indeed black and the thunder rumbling) to the book launch of Christina Philippou’s debut novel LOST IN STATIC a gritty tale set in a university. There I met Chris’s book publisher Matthew from Urbane Publications who was happy to talk about the work he does with authors, a genuine great guy I was pleased to hear that he has worked on getting Chris’s book placed in several book stores, Waterstones being one of them.

I also met a fellow book blogger Neats Wilson from the Haphazardous Hippo blog do go check out her blog, a voracious reader, she described her reading likes as eclectic. @lilac_hippo

If you missed my review of Lost In Static earlier this week here is a reminder.

Lost In Static is a gritty contemporary drama set in an English university. The main characters are four first year students and we follow their lives from beginning to end of that first year.

Ruby is a tom boy, and a huge football fan, she plays in the uni football team, she’s quiet and insecure at times, but popular.

Juliette is running away from home-life and its restrictions. A chain smoker from a strong religious upbringing, uni gives her an opportunity to push new boundaries.

Callum is the good looking one, but has his own secrets.

Yasmine; cold and callous, ready to use anyone for her greater good and will stop at nothing to get her own way.

As the students meet each other in their shared halls of residence, opinions are formed, friendships made, enemies engaged all with a heavy dose of drinking. Callum likes Ruby, Ruby is friends with Juliette, Yasmine hates Juliette, wants Callum and is jeolous of Ruby.

The book opens with one of these students being taken away in an ambulance after a serious accident. Divisions within the group have been split wide, but why? The story then turns back to the first day of term so that we, the reader, can learn of events which lead to the accident. It is built up in delicious layers where we are drip fed snippets and clues, so we too can build our own opinions.

Each student’s side of the story is cleverly told; Ruby’s narrative includes lots of internal dialogue, emphasising her lack of confidence. Callum tells us his version via e-mails to a secret contact. Juliette uses the fourth wall method of speaking to the reader, while Yasemine’s side is told through well known narrative.

The different POV’s are refreshing and move the story at just the right pace, I enjoyed seeing the slight differences in how events happened with each telling, just like any real-life perception of an event.

An excellent debut novel, showing a great strength of writing and could easily be enjoyed by a wide range of readers, although I wouldn’t recommend reading this just before letting go of your precious offspring for their first year at uni, leave it a couple of weeks at least!